Are you lucky enough to have access to an apple tree? Perhaps a friend does, and they regularly provide you with sacks full? Your next move will be to stew them down, ready to make pies and crumbles. But what happens if you’ve made too much?
Can You Freeze Stewed Apples?
Yes, you can freeze stewed apples for up to 6 months, and they freeze really well. To freeze stewed apples, cool then portion them into thick freezer bags before placing these bags into the freezer.
Do Do Stewed Apples freeze well? Yes
Can you refreeze Stewed Apples? Yes
How To Freeze Stewed Apples
Before you freeze your stewed apples, let them cool down to room temperature.
It’s never a good idea to freeze anything that’s still hot, as it can impact the internal temperature of your freezer and the way your food freezes. Once cooled, you can move on to freezing them:
- Portion Into Bags: Take the stewed apple mix and scoop it into a large freezer bag. Place as much as you would use in one go into a bag. So if you plan on making a pie or crumble in future, then make sure you place enough in the bag for one pie.
- Prepare for the Freezer: Lay the bag down on its side and spread the mixture out so it’s evenly spread in the bag. This will make it far easier to store in the freezer. It will also speed up the thawing process.
- Seal: Seal the bag up, trying to remove as much air as possible.
- Freeze It: Place in the freezer, and you’re done!
3 Tips for Freezing Stewed Apples
Now you know how to freeze them, we’ve got our 3 top tips which we strongly recommend following when freezing stewed apples to have the best results:
Consider Quantities
It’s vital to consider the portion sizes you will use. Once you know the quantity size, you need to use appropriately sized containers to freeze stewed apples.
Try Different Flavourings
Spices will freeze well when part of another dish. Don’t limit yourself to cinnamon. Try mixing stewed apples with cardamom, nutmeg, allspice, vanilla or tonka bean.
Defrost in Water
If you’re in a rush, submerge the container of frozen stewed apples in water in the sink to speed up the defrosting period.
How Long Can You Freeze Stewed Apples?
When freezing some fruit like apples, you can ruin the texture as they lose their crispness and become mushy.
The good news with freezing stewed apples is that you’ve already ruined the texture and caused them to become soft and mushy.
That means you don’t need to worry about leaving them in the freezer for too long, as there’s no significant texture for you to ruin.
We advise keeping them in the freezer for a maximum of 6 months.
As always, it’s a great idea to label your frozen stewed apples with the date they were frozen or the date they need to be used to avoid wasting them further.
Stewed apples can be kept in an airtight container or ziplock bag for up to 5 days in the fridge. You may find that the colour of the apple browns over time, however.
How Do You Defrost Stewed Apples?
You have two approaches when it comes to defrosting stewed apples. The first is a slow way. Simply take out your bag of stewed apples, place in the fridge and leave them to thaw out overnight.
This can take roughly 12 hours.
The quicker approach is the place your bag of stewed apples into a sink filled with room-temperature water. Don’t use hot water, as you will thaw the apples too quickly.
Can You Refreeze Stewed Apples?
This is a tough one to answer, as it depends on how you plan to use your stewed apples. When you freeze any stewed fruit, you will break the texture down a little.
If you thaw and then refreeze it, you’ll break that texture down even further.
If you plan on using your stewed apples as a sauce, in a pie filling or on yoghurt for breakfast, then there’s a chance that you don’t care about the texture. If this is the case, then refreezing will be fine.
If, however, you are concerned about the texture, then we would highly recommend not refreezing it.
Do Stewed Apples Freeze Well?
They certainly do. One of the significant issues with freezing fruit and then thawing it is that you can ruin the texture. They can become soft, squishy and limp.
As you have already cooked your stewed apples down into mush, there’s no risk of ruining the texture.
Stewed Apple Freezer Recipe
Although most stewed apple recipes will work just fine in the freezer, if you can keep your ingredients list minimal, then you’ll have better luck. Fortunately, our freezer-friendly recipe for stewed apples uses just 4 ingredients:
Freezer-Friendly Stewed Apple Recipe
4
servings10
minutes15
minutes25
minutesThis is the simplest way to make stewed apples with just 4 simple ingredients.
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Ingredients
4 Apples, Peeled and Cored
3tbsp Caster or Light Brown Sugar
1tbsp Lemon Juice
1tsp Ground Cinnamon
Directions
- Chop the peeled and cored apples up into small chunks, which are 1cm in size. You don’t have to be too precise here but it’s a good idea to get them all roughly the same size as one another.
- Put the chopped apples, sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon into a small pan with 1 tbsp of water and place it over a medium heat. Cover, and cook for around 8 minutes.
- Remove the lid, give the apples a stir and then continue to cook them for a further 2 to 3 minutes until they have broken down to the desired texture. You can use a spoon to help break them down at this point.
Notes
Related FAQs
If you’ve still got questions about freezing stewed apples or stewed fruit in general, then these may help:
Yes, you can. If you want to freeze a cooked apple pie, then simply wrap the whole thing in clingfilm followed by foil before freezing. Bear in mind that if you freeze the whole pie, then you’ll need to defrost and consume the whole pie. Instead, we would recommend freezing it in quarters.
Yes, you can freeze cooking apples. Prep them how you normally would (peel, dice, cut into wedges etc) and then place them into freezer bags. If you normally stew the apples in all cases, then it’s a good idea to do this before freezing them. 
Sources
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